Abstract
Customs adapted from experience have always informed the conduct of armies towards each other and towards enemy populations. By the seventeenth century parole had become one such mainstay of the laws of war. The pawning of their personal honour enabled officers to purchase freedom of movement and other privileges when they were taken captive. Increasingly, other ranks and civilians claimed a right to parole, too. Based on material from close to thirty British, Dutch, French, German, and Swiss archives the book investigates how captives, statesmen, and humanitarians understood honour in the ‘long nineteenth century’, how they negotiated national differences, and why parole d’honneur continued to matter as a humanitarian resource into the First World War despite recurring infringements. It is argued that the dichotomy created by a substantial amount of scholarship between the ‘good’ codes of conduct prevalent in the eighteenth century and modern warfare calls for a re-assessment. In explaining the longevity of parole, this study sheds new light on a question which loomed large during the centenary of the First World War: why did international agreements like the Geneva and Hague Conventions that provided for the humane treatment of captives fail to stem the tide of total war?
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Place of Publication | Oxford |
| Publisher | Oxford University Press (OUP) |
| Number of pages | 368 |
| ISBN (Electronic) | 9780191967498 |
| ISBN (Print) | 9780192871169 |
| Publication status | Published - 6 Feb 2025 |
Keywords
- prisoners of war
- honour
- humanitarianism
- laws of war
- European history